wicket

C2 Topic:General Vocabulary

US /ˈwɪkɪt/ See IPA manual

Freq #26574

Meanings

1

noun
A small door or gate, especially one beside a larger one.

...and one, a cool, bold fellow, whom I know well, will unlock the town gate, and—for he has various talents—hopes, through his influence with a pretty daughter of one of the wardens, to leave unbarred a certain wicket in the postern on the seaward side.
2

noun
A small window or other opening, sometimes fitted with a grating.

As he did so he heard the shuffle of footsteps entering the chapel and the clicking of the confessional wicket.
3

noun
A service window, as in a bank or train station, where a customer conducts transactions with a teller

Watt climbed the stone steps and stood before the wicket, looking through its bars. He admired the permanent way, stretching away on either hand, in the moonlight, and the starlight, as far as the eye could reach, as far as Watt's eye could have reached, if it had been inside the station.
4

noun
One of the two wooden structures at each end of the pitch, consisting of three vertical stumps and two bails; the target for the bowler, defended by the batsman.

The umpire placed the wickets 10 minutes before the match started.

Thesaurus

Word family

Derived forms mid-wicket

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

wicket gate
a small pedestrian gate, often set within a larger gate

Noun + noun

Simplified etymology

Wicket entered Middle English from northern French wiket, a form of French guichet. It first denoted a small door or gate set in or beside a larger one, then other small gates or openings; its cricket use appeared in the mid-17th century, when the wicket resembled a small gate. Its earlier history is uncertain, though it may be Germanic and related to Old Norse vikja, “to move, turn.”

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman, Old Northern French wiket, from Old Norse (specifically, Old East Norse) víkjas, diminutive of vík. Compare modern French guichet, ultimately from the same Old Norse source.

Topics

General Vocabulary

External links

# wicket

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈwɪkɪt/
**Frequency rank:** 26574

## Meanings
1. A small door or gate, especially one beside a larger one.
2. A small window or other opening, sometimes fitted with a grating.
3. A service window, as in a bank or train station, where a customer conducts transactions with a teller
4. One of the two wooden structures at each end of the pitch, consisting of three vertical stumps and two bails; the target for the bowler, defended by the batsman.

## Examples
- ...and one, a cool, bold fellow, whom I know well, will unlock the town gate, and—for he has various talents—hopes, through his influence with a pretty daughter of one of the wardens, to leave unbarred a certain wicket in the postern on the seaward side.
- As he did so he heard the shuffle of footsteps entering the chapel and the clicking of the confessional wicket.
- Watt climbed the stone steps and stood before the wicket, looking through its bars. He admired the permanent way, stretching away on either hand, in the moonlight, and the starlight, as far as the eye could reach, as far as Watt's eye could have reached, if it had been inside the station.
- The umpire placed the wickets 10 minutes before the match started.

## Derived Forms
- mid-wicket

## Etymology
From Anglo-Norman, Old Northern French wiket, from Old Norse (specifically, Old East Norse) víkjas, diminutive of vík. Compare modern French guichet, ultimately from the same Old Norse source.

## Topics
- General Vocabulary

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